The Cane and Rinse videogame podcast

Liberty City is yours for the taking. Join Brian, Darren, and Tony as they head back to their gaming roots to explore if Grand Theft Auto 3 is still as impactful today as it was all those years ago. Will the crime and carnage simulator stand the test of time? Listen in to find out.

What happens when you filter Hollywood's romantic view of the Old West through the lens of a Japanese arcade game studio in the early 1990s? Sunset Riders, yeehaw! A posse of Leon, Brian, Chris W and returning guest Ben "One Credit Classics" Cartlidge mosey on down and saddle up with Konami's gaudy run and gun, rootin' tootin' shootin' and lootin' through its hectic stages and tough boss encounters, along with help from their podners the Cane and Rinse listeners.

Chris O'Regan is joined by Brian Edwards and Chris Worthington to examine how Dome Keeper balances the tension between deep underground exploration and frantic surface defence. The panel discusses Dome Keeper's distinct pixel art style, atmospheric audio design, and mechanical pacing, evaluating how well its subterranean risk-reward decisions hold up across repeated runs and various loadout combinations.

It's taken five years but we've finally caught up with the game that was released around the time we began our Metroid series of podcasts. Leon, Darren, Jon and Sean - along with contributions from the Cane and Rinse listeners - face their fears and the familiar yet different environments of planet ZDR in Metroid Dread. Was this follow-up to Fusion worth the 19-year hiatus? Listen in and find out what we thought of MercurySteam's second Samus sortie.

Keyblades, nobodies, heartless, and drama. The Four Pillars of Kingdom Hearts. Join Brian, Chris, Leah, and Ryan as they navigate one of the handheld games in the series, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, a game with a story as convoluted as the title. Listen in to see if they can untangle the knot known as Kingdom Hearts to find the fun within.

The alluring combo of super-powered, hyper-skilled parkouring pilot and giant machine of heavily-armed destruction. Following the heavily multiplayer and Xbox-centric original, Respawn kicked on with a sequel that offered a focused single-player campaign - and an appearance on PlayStation. Leon, Chris O'Regan and Tom - along with contributions from the listenership - reacquaint themselves with Jack and BT's biomechanical bromance.

Remember a time when the most lavishly produced videogames were full motion video comedy adventure games? Chris Worthington, Brian, Chris O’Regan and James do! In this issue they have a long look at Access Software's cult hit, Under A Killing Moon, to find out whether all that investment would guarantee a game that still shines 30 years later.

This week, Ryan, Leah and Tony take a road trip to the town of Haven Springs, Colorado for a look at 2021's Life Is Strange: True Colors. From foosball matches to mineshaft crashes, the crew digs into the emotional depths of this supernatural adventure.

Sam Barlow's interactive cinematic puzzle IMMORTALITY gets dissected in this issue of the Cane and Rinse podcast. Leon, Ryan, Tom and community contributors scrub through the celluloid of three unreleased movies to trace Marissa Marcel's fate and the mysteries beneath.

The descendant of Erdrick has arrived. Brian, Chris Worthington, Jon and Leah examine the first entry in the legendary Dragon Quest series. Join them as they discuss the history and impact of the JRPG that birthed an entire genre.

Leon chats with Andrew Elmore about his video deep dive into Namco's long-running Museum series of retro re-releases, from mid-90s PlayStation origins through the generations to more recent standalone plug 'n' play devices and beyond. From Gee Bee to Tank Force via every Pac-Man and Galaxian inbetween, it's a lot of fun. Enjoy!

Vanillaware's mission to make a game in each genre continues with tactical RPG Unicorn Overlord. Leon, Chris O'Regan, Leah and Michiel (whose pick this was for the podcast), embroil themselves in the quest to liberate another Europesque land from the tyranny of a possessed expansionist despot. As usual - along with input from the listeners - we get into the audio-visual presentation, the nitty gritty of interface and the myriad strategic options afforded by this systems-rich epic fantasy.

It's rare for us to review a 10 year-old game that's still in active development, but here we are. Much has already been said about the majestic comeback story that is No Man's Sky - and we do touch upon that here - but we mainly wanted to discuss what we did and didn't enjoy about playing the game in its 2026 form. Leon, James, Rich and Patreon posters do just that, telling tales of adventure in this practically infinite possibility space.

As the industry (and us) gets older, the anniversaries get larger. Konami's famous Frogger celebrates its 45th birthday, so we celebrate with the hydrophobic hopper. Leon, Brian, Jesse and Sean - along with some arcade memories from the community - discuss the apocryphal legend of this simple single-screen action game, try to understand why it endures, and even the mating habits of amphibians - in this especially silly podcast.

They see me rollin'. Ryan, Leah, and more Chrises than you may expect venture back to the PSP oddity LocoRoco and the pastel paradises it inspired. The crew discusses the music, soft-body physics, and tilt controls as the LocoRoco series is taken for a spin.

Though Ron Gilbert had moved on, LucasArts' Grossman, Schaefer and co were in full point and click flow by 1993. In this podcast we return to the Maniac Mansion for beloved follow-up, Day of the Tentacle. Leon, Brian, Jesse, Ryan and Patreon posters get lost in lavatorial time-loops, untangling the puzzles that worked for them and those that didn't, as well as appraising the Looney Tunes-inspired art, humour and audio.

When Developing Alien: Fireteam Elite, Coldiron Studios were tasked with rehabilitating Aliens after the poorly received Aliens: Colonial Marines in 2013. Could a studio known for MMOs replicate the success of 2014’s Alien Isolation by creating a Destiny inspired horde shooter? Join host Rich and panel Brian, Jon and Leah as they work through the scattered reception of Alien and Aliens games, and decide whether Aliens: Fireteam Elite effectively captures the intensity of James Cameron’s 1986 movie.

As Capcom gears up to soft reboot dormant franchise Onimusha, we look back a quarter of a century to its origins, 2001's Onimusha: Warlords. Leon, Chris Worthington, James and Michiel suck Genma souls like it's Luigi's haunted hotel in this tricky, Spenceresque Sengoku Mansion. We also talk about the game's interface, systems, challenge and - with contributions from the listeners - some of the changes made to both the Xbox version and the more recent remaster.

Sin & Punishment skipped the GameCube generation, but came bouncing back after almost a decade on Wii. Leon, Chris O'Regan and Sean grapple with Isa and Kachi across eight intense stages of on-rails, danmaku-style shmup madness from the crazy geniuses at Treasure. With input from the listenership, we talk technical and artistic achievements, as well as taking aim at the game's demanding yet satisfying mechanics.

“Don’t make me embarrass myself further.” Dracula was dead and not loving it so, as per usual, the evil powers that be attempt to resurrect […]

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